MEPs from several political groups hope to get a vote in September to ban puffs, these disposable electronic cigarettes popular with adolescents who worry doctors and health authorities. Launched in November by Green MP Francesca Pasquini, a member of the Nupes group, a bill aims to ban electronic vaping devices “as long as they are single-use”, in other words puffs.
This fashion for small colored tubes that we inhale arrived in France at the end of 2021. Sold for between eight and twelve euros at tobacconists, on websites or in supermarkets, they come in a wide range of flavors (strawberry ice cream, cola sparkling or other bubble gum), and offer a certain number of puffs for a nicotine level between 0 and 20 mg/ml. Faced with this phenomenon described as worrying, which appeals to many adolescents, the Minister of Health François Braun “is completely in favor of a ban on puffs as part of the next National Program for the Fight against Smoking (PNLT) 2023-2027 “. “He will also work with parliamentarians and associations mobilized on the subject,” his cabinet told AFP on Thursday.
“With this support, we have good hopes of achieving this by the end of the year,” said Francesca Pasquini on Thursday during a press briefing at the National Assembly. His bill was signed by 63 deputies from eight different political groups, excluding LR and RN. The member now hopes for inclusion on the agenda of the Assembly so that it can be debated in session in October or November. “Everything is in place for the ban to happen quickly,” rejoiced the deputy of the presidential majority, Karl Olive (Renaissance), present at the press point and support of the text.
In the Senate too, the subject is on the agenda. Senator LR Catherine Procaccia has just been given a mission on alternatives to tobacco by the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST), which informs Parliament on decisions in these areas.
